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Omega Labyrinth Z
Omega Labyrinth Z is a rogue-like dungeon-crawler RPG for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, developed by Matrix Software of Alundra fame, published by D3 Publisher in Japan and H2 Interactive in Taiwan and South Korea, and originally released in the aforementioned Asian regions on June 21, 2017. It is the sequel to Omega Labyrinth, which was previously released on the PlayStation Vita in Japan. This page refers to the game's Western Release, which was first announced by PQube on November 11, 2017, and was scheduled to be released in the spring the following year. Controversy Due to its sexual content which involved minors, including a loli-character called Urara Rurikawa, the game was refused classification in Australia and Germany in 2018 by the ACB in February and USK in March respectively, while in the same month, it was also refused a certificate by the UK's Video Standards Council. Meanwhile, the game was still given an 18+ rating by PEGI, while the ESRB still gave the game an M rating. Why It Was Cancelled On June 25, 2018, just months after it missed its intended release window, PQube announced that they had cancelled its western release to "comply with the wishes of the platform holders", in which Sony America and Sony Europe allegedly blocked the game for its western release, after the game failed at Sony QA, before it was much later revelaed that it was due to a new censorship policy which was introduced during the game's supposed scheduled release window. This policy also heavily censored the then-upcoming western releases of Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal and numerous original Japanese releases of several Japanese games, while the PC and other console versions remained uncensored. Result The cancellation shocked western otakus who were highly anticipated towards its release. In response to the cancellation, a petition on change.org was made to overturn the decision by Sony America and Sony Europe to block its western release, except that as of July 3, 2019, only 691 people signed the petition. Since the game was not heavily marketed and promoted, given the very lackluster fanbase of such games, the petition failed, and all drama sorrounding the cancellation of its western release faded quickly. While its western release was cancelled, it was announced on June 3, 2019 by online game vendor Playasia.com that an English version of its follow-up Omega Labyrinth Life would be released exclusively in South-East Asia on the same date as of the original Japanese version on August 1 the same year on both the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with the latter version being known simply as Labyrinth Life and heavily censored due to the new censorship policies put in place by Sony. Japan-based localization company Lovelab, who previously made an English version for Bullet Girls Phantasia, handle the English translation for the latest title. It was also announced that the game was also to be released in the west in digital format in the eShop and PlayStation Store respectively, with the game having surprisingly given R18+ and 16+ ratings in Australia and Germany respectively via the IARC system which the eShop uses. Category:2010s games Category:PlayStation 4 Games Category:PlayStation Vita Games Category:Role-Playing Games Category:Controversial games Category:Anime Games